(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)
An Arizona State offense that has struggled all season continued to do so on Thursday night, dropping the Sun Devils’ Pac-12 home-opener 68-61, to No. 20 Colorado (14-3, 3-1 Pac-12).
After heading into the halftime break knotted at 28 with the Buffaloes, the Sun Devils emerged from the locker room to go 2-for-20 from the field to open the second half.
The misses came in a multitude of ways. Junior forward Kimani Lawrence rattled a 3-pointer in-and-out to start the half. Junior guard Remy Martin opened by missing his first seven shots of the second half – four of them jumpers from the perimeter – an area in which the Sun Devils have struggled mightily this season.
“Remy battled,” head coach Bobby Hurley said of Martin’s 25 points on 9 of 23 shooting. “He struggled a little bit to start the second half, he was stuck on twelve for a while, but he has such a big heart he just kept competing.”
In the midst of another offensive drought, junior forward Romello White went to work down low. Limited in his offensive touches due to good post defense from CU sophomore forward Evan Battey, who Hurley credited with moving White off his spot.
“We knew that [White] had it going,” Hurley said of White’s 19-point, 10-rebound performance. “Battey was very physical and was getting him off his position, and there weren’t a lot of clean looks, but I was hoping that he got more touches and got the ball a little more.”
White was the only Sun Devil to shoot above 50 percent from the field Thursday night, going 9 of 12 from the floor. In the second half alone, the Atlanta native was the only Sun Devil to convert a field goal in the first 12 minutes of the half.
“Mello’s been a beast throughout the whole season,” Martin said.
Although the Sun Devils racked up misses from the field, an energetic defensive effort kept the game close early in the second half. That was until a Shane Gatling 3-pointer capped a 10-0 Colorado run which gave the Buffaloes a 42-32 lead.
From there, an Arizona State team which entered Thursday night shooting 30.4 percent from 3-point range, tried to mount a comeback through deep shooting. As has been the case for most of this season, the Sun Devils came up short in that endeavor, finishing the night 6-for-23 from deep in a 68-61 loss.
As Arizona State (10-7, 1-3 Pac-12) progresses in conference play, Martin said it remains up to him to carry the Sun Devils on offense.
“One of the things that is consistent is to go down low and get Mello the ball,” Martin said. “But as far as like in the offensive scheme, it’s kind of just up to me to make shots and me to find the open guy… We just have to make better plays and I didn’t tonight.”
Martin finished with a game-high 25 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the loss. In 38 minutes of action, the ASU point guard was a -6 in plus/minus.
Hurley said he’s searching for answers and has tried a myriad of different things as the Sun Devils have continued to struggle offensively.
“We’re hoping and trying different things,” a defeated Hurley said. “We’ve shaken the lineup up. We’ve tried to build them up confidence wise. Not a lot of follow through just consistently.”
The Sun Devils next will get set for a visit from Utah (10-6, 1-3 Pac-12). Tip is Saturday at 7 p.m. local time.
